Gaza: William Hague warns that ground invasion would damage Israel

A ground invasion of the Gaza Strip would lose Israel much international
sympathy and support, William Hague warned on Sunday, as diplomatic pressure
for restraint increased.

By Our Foreign Staff

9:51AM GMT 18 Nov 2012

Mr Hague told Sky News that it was much more difficult to limit civilian casualties in a ground assault, which would threaten to prolong the conflict.

His comments came after Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said the armed forces were ready to "significantly expand" their operation against militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip as it entered its fifth day.

The Government has said that Hamas bears the principal responsibility for the crisis due to perpetual rocket attacks on Israeli territory.

But Mr Hague said it would be hard for the international community to maintain sympathy with Israel if it launched a ground operation.

"The Prime Minister and I have both stressed to our Israeli counterparts that a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support and sympathy that they have in this situation.

"It's much more difficult to restrict and avoid civilian casualties during a ground invasion and a large ground operation would threaten to prolong the conflict.

"So we have made our views very clear on that with Israel, just as we have made very clear our view that the barrage of rockets from Gaza onto southern Israel is an intolerable situation for the Israelis and it's not surprising they have responded to that.

"A ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community to sympathise with or support - including the United Kingdom."

At the start of his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Mr Netanyahu said: "The army is prepared to significantly expand the operation. The soldiers are ready for any activity that could take place."

His remarks came as thousands of Israeli troops and hardware gathered along the border, fuelling concerns that the Jewish state was poised to expand its relentless aerial bombing campaign into a ground operation.

Israeli soldiers sit atop their tanks on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip (Getty Images)

The Israeli army sealed off the main roads around Gaza late on Friday and shortly afterwards, the cabinet authorised the recruitment of up to 75,000 reservists, prompting a flurry of diplomatic efforts to broker a truce to head off any escalation.

However, a truce remains a possibility and Mr Netanyahu's warning could have been intended to maintain pressure on Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. Two more targeted Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, the fourth day in a row which the Israeli heartland has come under fire, but were intercepted by the Iron Dome' missile defence system.

Israeli soldiers watch as an Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket near the southern city of Ashdod (Reuters)

David Cameron urged Israel to "do everything possible" to end the crisis in Gaza. In a phone call with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu last night, he expressed sympathy for the continued "unacceptable" rocket attacks by militants.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister expressed his sympathy for the unacceptable rocket attacks that Israel continued to suffer.

"He also expressed concern over the risk of the conflict escalating further and the danger of further civilian casualties on both sides.

"The Prime Minister said that the UK was putting pressure on both sides to de-escalate and urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to do everything possible to bring the conflict to an end."

Mr Cameron's call came amid intensified international diplomatic efforts to prevent the violence escalating into a full-scale conflict.

Smoke billows as debris falls after the explosion at the local Al-Aqsa TV station in Gaza City (AP)

Overnight, Israeli strikes hit two media centres in Gaza city as Israel widened its range of targets to go after military commanders of the territory's Hamas rulers.

The Israeli strikes, apparently missiles, hit two high-rise buildings. They damaged the top floor offices of the Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, and a Lebanese-based broadcaster, Al Quds TV, seen as sympathetic to the Islamists.

The Gaza press association said six Palestinian journalists were wounded. Foreign broadcasters, including Sky TV, German and Italian TV outlets, also had offices in the high-rises.

The Israeli military said it was aiming at a communications antenna on the roof of one of the buildings. It had no immediate comment on the other strike.

Six journalists were wounded in the attacks on the media targets, including one who lost a leg, the Gaza journalists' association said.

Bassem Madhoun, an employee of Dubai TV, said two missiles scored a direct hit on Al Aqsa TV's 15th floor offices in one of the buildings.

An explosion and smoke are seen after Israeli strikes in Gaza City (Reuters)

Building windows were blown out and glass shards and debris were scattered on the street below. Some of the journalists who had been inside the building at the time took cover in the entrance hallway.

Mohammed Shrafi, a Palestinian cameraman, said he was in the street filming when he was hit by shrapnel coming down from the building.

Asked why Israel was targeting media centres, he replied, "they want to keep us from telling the truth."

Five Palestinian civilians were killed in airstrikes, including four children ranging in age from one to seven, according to Ashraf al-Kidra, a Gaza health official. Two of the children, a three-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy, were from the same family and were killed by an airstrike on their home in the Jebaliya refugee camp.

The deaths brought to 51 the number of Palestinians killed since the operation began on Wednesday. One third of the dead were civilians, and more than 400 civilians have been wounded, al-Kidra said. On the Israeli side, three civilians have been killed and more than 50 wounded by rocket fire.

Two Palestinian youngsters look through the rubble of their destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza strip (EPA)

Israel's military spokesman warned that Israel would go after Hamas commanders on Sunday, in addition to rocket squads, in "more targeted, more surgical and more deadly" attacks.

Brig Gen Yoav Mordechai made the threat as Israel found itself at the crossroads of whether to launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led truce efforts. Israel has said it is not prepared to enter into a truce without guarantees the rocket fire won't resume.

Early on Sunday, the military carried out dozens of attacks on rocket-launching sites, a major training base and the attacks on the two media centres. Israeli gunboats also fired on militant sites on the Gaza shore line, the military said without elaborating.

Mordechai, the Israeli military spokesman, told Army Radio that despite truce efforts, the military has been ordered to intensify its attacks, following a late-night meeting led by Mr Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. the defence minister.

"I imagine in the next few hours, we will see ongoing targeted attacks on gunmen and Hamas commanders," Mordechai said. "More targeted, more surgical and more deadly."

Israel launched its military campaign on Wednesday, after months of renewed rocket fire from Gaza, by assassinating Hamas' military chief in an airstrike. Since then, it has relentlessly targeted suspected rocket-launching and storage sites.

Israeli Defence Ministry director Udi Shani told Army Radio that Israel's operation against Gaza militants was not meant to topple the Islamic militant Hamas, but to cripple its capabilities to attack Israel.

"If we don't achieve our goals from the air, we will have to enter by ground," Shani said. "I hope in the coming days it will be decided."

The air attacks initially focused on Hamas military targets, but gradually have expanded to include symbols of Hamas power.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man watches as a truck transports Iron Dome anti-missiles batteries in the southern city of Ashdod (Reuters)

The Israeli military also appeared to take over the frequencies of the radio stations of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group to broadcast a recorded, Arabic-language warning to the people of Gaza to stay away from Hamas installations and personnel.

"To the people of Gaza, Hamas is playing with fire and gambling with your fate," said the message, which was broadcast every five minutes. "The Israel Defence Force is moving toward the second phase of its operation. For your safety, you should stay away from Hamas infrastructure and personnel."

The message did not say what the "second phase" was, but thousands of Israeli troops are massed near the Gaza border, awaiting an order to invade should Israeli leaders decide on that course. Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon told Army Radio that Israel has to be prepared to widen the operation if militants don't back down.

The military spokesman's office said it could not confirm it was broadcasting this message, but said it has issued similar warnings over the radio several days ago.

"Today, serious military help is expected. Why can the United States and the West hand over weapons to the Zionist regime, or Israel, but weapons should not be given to Palestine?" state radio broadcast Larijani telling parliament.